Noob - 2x 980Ti cooling advice (hardware question)

[Brezaling]

Hi there,

I'm looking at getting a 2 card GTX 980ti set up for Octane and I've read snippets on other forums regarding cooling.
Some suggest the EVGA water cooling... Some talk about not stacking the cards up.

Is it a big deal to water cool 2x 980ti's? With heavy octane use,/regular overnight renders? Will I run into overheating / not such a long life with the 980ti cards if I don't liquid cool them?

Or can i just run with decent fan cooling
Anyone who can offer some tips based on experience / regarding this would help set me in the right direction with getting a build.

Much appreciated.

B

[Lewis]

with "just" 2 GPUs you can put them 1 slot away or even first and last PCI-E slot and air cooling will do just fine.

[Brezaling]

Hi Lewis,

Thanks for the advice. So if I were to upgrade with a couple more cards in future definitely make sure they're liquid cooled?
(just thinking ahead if I'm building now.)

Can the GTX980Tis burn out easily with heavy Octane use...? is there a general lifespan?

B

[Lewis]

Well at some point you will probably want more GPUs (Octane is like virus/drug you want it more and faster all the time ) but until that time comes no point of thinking aobut it since who knows will you have all same GPUs or mixed and what may happen on new soon (this year) to be released Pascal GPUs from nvidia. I say work now with what you have NOW and don't worry about future too much.

As for GPUs they can last several years no problem.

[Brezaling]

Cool. Thanks for the advice man.

B

[leehenshall]

I have a stacked Titan X GPU rig. I believe the 980 ti and the Titan X share the same Nvidia reference cooler (if you don't go for a after market cooler). I've found the nvidia reference cooler to be pretty solid...especially if you're stacking a lot of GPUs because the fan can pull air in from the rear of the card and funnel it out of the case efficiently. The main downside is that the standard fan profiles aren't the best. I recommend you install something like MSI Afterburner and create a more aggressive fan profile (will increase noise)...that way the GPU won't get as hot under heavy load and potentially last longer....the good news is that the fans can go very fast. Also go for a high airflow case like the corsair 750d Airflow.

If you don't like that sound of that then yes water cooling will probably be cooler and quieter but it can get pretty specialist especially if you need more than 2 GPUs in one case. Custom water cooled rigs are expensive and require experienced hands to setup. It is possible to have 4 GPUS with pre attached waters blocked but make sure you've got a Chassis that can support it. It can also be harder to swap hardware than an air cooled rig.

I will say however the Titan X chip is designed to handle temps around 85C. That's pretty hot for a non overclocked GPU but everyone I've spoken to about this say it is normal to reach those temps including Nvidia. All the same for rendering i put the fans on high which keeps the temps down to 55-70 depending on ambient temps and workload. I have no proof this improves the life span or performance it just keeps the temps down.

I posted a similar thread in the I-Ray for Maya forums a while back:

https://forum.nvidia-arc.com/showthread ... re-control

And heres the images if you can't access them...

Also if you pack a lot of GPUS in one system It will create a lot of heat in the room (depending on your environment) The room I have my GPU workstation in is very well insulated and becomes very hot when I render. Multi GPU systems can potentially output a similar amount of power and heat as a small CPU render node/cluster so don't be surprised by the amount of heat it will generate. I've purchased a small conditioner to keep my ambient temps down.

Hope this helps